Kennedy applauds President Trump for standing up to U.K.’s Chagos Islands giveaway

MADISONVILLE, La. - Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today released the following statement in support of President Donald Trump's comments denouncing the United Kingdom's deal to give away the Chagos Islands, a decision that would jeopardize the safety of a joint U.S.-U.K. military base.

President Trump today wrote on Truth Social that "[t]here is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness."

"President Trump is absolutely right to condemn the United Kingdom's down-to-the-marrow stupid decision to give away the Chagos Islands-including our joint military base. There's no excuse for sidelining American security and handing a massive gift to China just to appease woke critics-and that's exactly what the U.K. government has done with this deal. It's not too late to stop it, and I'm proud to stand with the Trump administration in all their efforts to block this nonsense," said Kennedy.

Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands, is home to a joint U.S.-U.K. military base-one of the only bases in the world where the U.S. military can reload submarines.

Despite the base's importance, the United Kingdom has sided with left-wing activists by moving to cede control of the Chagos Islands to the small island nation of Mauritius.

Mauritius, located more than 1,200 miles from the Chagos Islands, has become increasingly aligned with the Chinese Communist Party. Its prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, has signaled his intent to bolster diplomatic relations with China, once relaying that President Xi Jinping told him, "China never forgets its friends."

Background:

Kennedy has long condemned the United Kingdom's planned giveaway of the Chagos Islands.

• Shortly after the proposed deal's announcement in October 2024, Kennedy released a statement lambasting the decision as "dangerous and irresponsible," making him one of the chief American opponents of the Chagos giveaway.

• The same month, Kennedy authored an op-ed in The Hill further denouncing the move, and wrote a letter to then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken seeking answers about the Biden administration's involvement in the deal.

• On four occasions from November 2024 to February 2025, Kennedy took to the U.S. Senate floor to urge the U.S. and U.K. governments to abandon the deal.

• In January 2025, Kennedy hosted two leading British critics of the Chagos giveaway, Baron Dean Godson and Julia Mizen of the U.K.-based think tank Policy Exchange, at his office.

• Later that month, Kennedy authored an additional op-ed in The Telegraph, arguing in part that "[t]he idea that the U.K. must hand over the islands to atone for whatever perceived wrongs Britain's forefathers may have committed is nonsense."

• In April 2025, Kennedy participated in a Wall Street Journal documentary about the Chagos Islands deal, calling it "stone-cold stupid."